"There is no friendship, no love, like that of the parent for the child."
-- Henry Ward Beecher

Monday, June 11, 2012

Time Flys...

All I have to do is get busy & time here gets eliminated... :(

J had a very busy week last week... He spent time with both grandparents... He LOVES that. He wishes everyone could just move into our home. He loves spending time with his grandparents so much...

I'm not sure if J was a touch sick, hitting a growth spurt or just lacking in sleep, but here is how last week went...

Sunday night we had ribs for dinner. J loves ribs, so we were surprised when he said he didn't like them. We did get him to eat one, and he returned it to us in our bed around 1:30. That was so many kinds of awesome.

J & I grabbed a shower while Matt changed the bedding, after which, Mommy declared TV time. I was worried about having him lay right back down, in case he was still sick. We ended up spending the rest of the night on the couch. We fell asleep around 3, so when my alarm went off around 530, I moved him in with Mr. M still asleep. The got up around 645'ish to see me off to work. So he got around 8 hours of sleep on Sunday.

He napped 3.5 hours on Monday, and still slept his normal 8 - 5:30. Tuesday, he did a normal 2 hour nap, but didn't get to sleep until closer to 9. He has tball practice on Tuesday, and it was my birthday + I was getting him ready to have an overnight at Grandma & Grandpa's. But he slept till 5:30 and was ready to go in the AM.

Thursday night, he fell asleep at 4:45 :( making for a sad mommy, as he slept until 1115, at which point, Matt fed him yogurt & sent him back to bad by 1145 with me, in an effort to help him get the sleep he obviously needed.

Friday was J's first day at FRA's Summer Care program, and he said he did not nap well. :( My Dad had come to town to pick up my mom from the airport, so J rode with him. On the way to the airport, J complained about his legs & toes hurting. Then on the way home, my parents said he really complained and cried until he just fell asleep around 8. He slept until 730 the next morning. J sleeping that long is totally unheard of in our parts of the world. He is up with the sun, like his Mommy & Daddy. Both Mr. M & myself have to be really exhausted to sleep through the summer early sunshine.

Even sleeping so late on Saturday, J was asking for a nap before 10 while we were running errands. As soon as we got home, I put him down & he slept from 1030 to 1. He then helped Grandpa & me finish up our the last of our projects (we are back to 3 working garage remotes, toilet basics are functioning properly & I learned how to weed whack), we then swam for a couple of hours. Around 5, we ran back to Home Depot to return a remote we didn't need and pick up a new sprinkler for our yard. On the way home, J mentioned he needed another nap. Unfortunately, with getting dinner together and doing laundry, there was to much commotion for him to settle down & nap. The result was J leaving the dinner table almost right after we sat down, to go to bed for the night... He slept from 8'ish to 6 on Sunday morning.

We had a lazy Sunday morning with grandma & grandpa, as they took us to breakfast. Then we got ready for J's tball game at noon. Right after getting dressed, J mentioned he didn't want to play, he just wanted to nap. He played pretty well considering how he felt. After his game, we made him eat lunch, which was a total struggle, but he ate & promptly went down for a nice 3 hour nap.

He woke up a different kid. He was back to his playful self, who was so adamant I had a cake to blow candles out on Tuesday. Thank you again to Miss Cheryl for helping him make his wish come true and to Miss Wendy & Skye for helping us celebrate & sharing in the yummy cupcakes! We went swimming, had dinner and were all off to sleep on time last night with a great wake up this morning.

Whatever jazzed up last week, I'm glad we are over it... He is such a great kid when he is well rested, and so very trying when he is not... I did give him a special treat (sugar free gum) as a reward for telling me how badly he needed a nap Saturday morning, instead of just acting out in Meijer. I told him, I was not happy with his behavior, but the fact he stopped and said "Mommy, I really need a nap" was HUGE. I want to reinforce that, hence the reward.

There is not a clear message from J's Young Scholar teachers on what Junior Kindergarten will bring in terms of nap time, so I will be emailing his future teachers to get a better understanding what to expect. If we do not need to worry about shortening his nap time yet, then I will put that worry off for another year... If I do, then I would LOVE some suggestions on how to help nap wean, while maintaining his restfulness... It just has such a HUGE impact on his behavior.